“Instead of Myrtle Beach, we want people to come here,” said Scott Yeager, president of Radius Hospitality.

His vision to re-create the tourist destination involves phased renovation of the lodge and other amenities on the 500-acre property.

Yeager and Randy Budd, vice president of sales and marketing, are planning a meeting at 11 a.m. May 11 to review the company’s expansion and renovation plans with the public, as well as sharing their anticipated timeline for the Atwood Lake Resort project.

“Everyone wants to see the lodge come back,” Year said. “But it was built in the 1960s and it needs some help.”

Yeager said the priority under Phase I simply is to get the resort open.

The 47-year-old lodge was slated for demolition last summer. It closed in October 2010 after suffering financial deficits that exceeded $1 million in each of its final two years of operation. Historically, the resort had not been a source of revenues for its former owner, the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, losing an average of more than $159,000 per year since opening in 1965.

After a public outcry over demolition plans, the conservancy district looked for a suitor, and Carroll County was the only taker.

Reopening of the complex was originally envisioned for roughly 90 days after the April 9 signing of the agreement with Carroll County commissioners, but Yeager thinks that time frame can be shortened.

Radius has already been contacted by oil-and-gas companies wanting to secure blocks of rooms for their workers. Drilling for oil and gas in the Tuscarawas Valley started first in Carroll County, where lodging has become scarce.

Oil and gas companies with local interests have expressed a willingness to secure rooms for long periods, perhaps one or two years.

“We want it open as soon as possible as a resort. It’s not our goal to fill it with all gas and oil people, but they are here, and there is a need,” Budd said.

“We need to update the guest rooms,” Yeager added. “And that will take significant dollars to get it very comfortable for folks in the area to stay.”

Besides renovation, expansion is on the horizon.

“104 rooms will not be enough,” Budd said.

Yeager said a three-story addition could become a reality by building in the lower valley area so no views will be obstructed. He sees a 200- to 300-room inventory.

GOLF PLANS

Commissioner Tom Wheaton said the contract commissioners signed with the conservancy district in February to assume ownership placed a 12-month window on reopening the golf course. If the golf course is not opened within that time, mineral resources from the golf course land — assigned to the county under the sales agreement — would revert back to the MWCD.

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Yeager said much work needs to be done to the 18-hole, par 71 course.

A new irrigation system needs to be installed, for example, and some holes are expected to be relocated before the course opens. Yeager said the fairway will be expanded and manicured.

Plans call for much of the Par 3 course to remain the same, but additional holes will be added. There will also be more space provided for the driving range and additional grass tees, chipping greens and putting greens. One of the later phases will include addition of a miniature golf course, but Yeager insisted it will not be what usually comes to mind when you think of a putt-putt golf course.

Brian Huntley of Uniontown has been hired as the golf course designer. It will be his job to reconfigure the 18 hole golf course. Seven holes are on difficult terrain, and replacement holes will be constructed on part of the property’s old air strip.

The par 3 course will be open as soon as possible, with the front nine possibly ready by next spring, Yeager said.

“We get one chance to open and do it right, and that’s what we want to do,” Yeager said.

Yeager said visitors could play the nine holes of the main course, then play them a second time using different tee positions for the second round.

ADDING AMENITIES

Yeager and Budd have plans for the entire family.

An additional parking lot is being designed and planned. It will have the capability of being flooded in the winter and used as an ice skating rink.

The operators are looking at the possibility of an indoor water park. A zip line adventure has been discussed.

"We want to keep our guests here for multiple days and have plenty for them to do,” Yeager said.

“The summer months do well. Spring is OK. Fall is OK with the lake and the foliage. But the winter months can kill us. We need a plan to create a place that is year-round. A tube hill for sledding with a rope tow is also being designed for one of the golf hills that will not cause any damage to the course,” Yeager said.

“The access to the lake is a huge draw. We can see docks and people bringing in their boats,” Yeager said.

Wheaton said he has talked to marina operators about a possible water taxi that could transport resort guests to restaurants around the lake, as well as to boat-rental operations.

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TRAINING PARTNER

Radius has been meeting with representatives of Kent State University at Tuscarawas and is incorporating plans for the university to offer instruction at the lodge on golf course maintenance, hospitality, horticulture and other areas.

The operators have received one specific request to provide a training place for oil and gas workers. Yeager said there is one spot where a training rig could be erected that would be out of the way, out of view of lodge visitors.

Commissioners are working with attorney Jonathan Downs to finalize the five-year operational agreement with Radius. Additionally, commissioners have updated the resort’s pool and food licenses, and they are working on a liquor license for the resort.